Simon Becher supplied a brace Saturday night and visiting St. Louis City SC maintained its strong form over the last three months with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Daniel Edelman also scored for St. Louis (8-6-5, 29 points), which improved to 7-0-2 over its last nine fixtures and moved into fifth in the Western Conference standings after languishing near the bottom at the end of April.
Beau Leroux scored the only goal for San Jose (10-6-3, 33 points), which dropped into fourth in the West with another poor defensive performance. The Earthquakes are 1-5-3 in their last nine matches, largely due to an inability to maintain a consistent defensive shape.
That bit them pretty quickly in this one as St. Louis showed that, at least for one match, the transfer of Marcel Hartel to Hannover 96 of the Bundesliga wouldn’t affect its ability to finish clinically at the net.
While San Jose’s lack of defense didn’t hurt, St. Louis still delivered pretty passing sequences that set up its goals. Just eight minutes into the match, Edelman roamed unmarked through the middle, enabling Conrad Wallem to slip a pass to him in a point-blank spot. Goalie Angus Gunn had little chance to prevent the goal.
Gunn also didn’t have much of a shot at stopping Becher’s first goal in the 27th minute. Eduard Lowen delivered a perfect corner kick into the middle of the box and Becher soared into the air to head it home.
Down 2-0 as the second half started, the Earthquakes got a spark from Leroux. He gathered St. Louis’ clearing attempt from a free kick just outside the box and wired a one-hop shot that eluded goalie Roman Burki at the left post in the 47th minute.
But another defensive breakdown led to the final tally for St. Louis. A long pass found Tomas Totland down the left side and he centered the ball for Becher, who volleyed a right-footed strike into the net. It was the 21st time San Jose has conceded in the last nine matches.
St. Louis finished with advantages of 13-7 in total shots and 7-2 in shots on frame. Gunn made four saves, while Burki finished with one.
–Field Level Media
